Posted on 11/17/2015 7:22:10 AM PST by csvset
Five people have been arrested in western Germany in a hunt for suspects in connection with the Paris terrorist attacks, but police caution they have not yet established a link to the jihadist violence.
The interior ministry in North Rhine-Westphalia confirmed to The Local that two additional male suspects had been arrested in the early afternoon in Alsdorf, at town on the outskirts of Aachen.
An eyewitness reported to DPA that special forces officers wearing masks and carrying submachine guns were seen blocking off a street in Alsdorf where the first three arrested were reportedly living.
The two arrests in the afternoon bring the total to five people detained on Tuesday in the hunt for Salah Abdesalam, a 26-year-old suspected of involvement in Friday's Isis terror attacks who has an international arrest warrant on his head.
Police said that the first three, all foreign citizens, were taken into custody in Alsdorf, near the border with the Netherlands.
"I can confirm the arrests of three people" of foreign nationalities, Aachen city police spokesman Werner Schneider told news channel NTV, adding that "they could be connected with the Paris attacks".
He cautioned however that "either these indications will be confirmed or it could all go up into thin air", and that the identities of the three were yet to be established.
The Aachener Zeitung (AZ) reported that special police forces had arrested two women and a man at about 9.30am at a job centre.
Der Spiegel identified those in the first group arrested as Kamal A. (29), Lava M. (28), and Didem A. (32). Spiegel also reported that police had received a tip from a saleswoman at a discount store, who thought she recognized Abdesalam as being with the group.
A spokeswoman for the North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Ministry confirmed to The Local that Abdesalam was not among the first three arrested.
Police decided to proceed with the investigation even though Abdesalam was not found among them because they wanted to make sure the suspected terrorist did not get away, Spiegel reported.
A police spokesman said they had received a tip that fugitives wanted in connection with the Paris attacks might be in their area of operations.
The trio's car was reportedly stopped by multiple police vehicles as it exited the job centre's car park. The three had reportedly been visiting the centre beforehand.
Large numbers of police were on the scene. Eyewitnesses said they saw the two women being led away in handcuffs.
Police told DPA that there were "ongoing intelligence and investigations measures" underway in the area and that the three were being interrogated.
The AZ reported that police vehicles were seen in neighbouring areas.
The suspects' identities have not yet been confirmed.
Alsdorf is a small town of around 50,000 inhabitants near Germany's borders with Belgium and the Netherlands.
Police across Europe are currently hunting for Abdesalam, brother of one of the Paris suicide bombers, who is believed to have travelled through Germany to Austria in September.
In Germany? Who would have thought? (/s)
We should see much more of this but it seems they should be rousting this scum before the assaults rather than after, there is an extensive list of suspected terrorists, why not round them up, I know they say there is no or not enough proof I say if they are islamic that’s proof enough.
Someone would compare that with Nazism, it is not the same thing, we are at war with the islamic ideological cult bent on destroying western civilization and killing anyone who resists submission to their cult, the enemy is in the camp, roust them up and run them out force them back to their 13th century comfort zone in the mid-east, you don’t have to kill them all (my preference) just enough to get their asses in gear, it will very soon be too late for Europe if it is not already, but it is not to late for America, time is running thin.
That’s where my liberal friend lives. Uh, huh. I’ve been waiting for exactly this. How’s those hard working well educated good family oriented invaders working out for you? Email time!
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